Jürgen Strassert

Check out our paper to explore how the evolutionary history of SELMA supports or challenges various hypotheses on the origin of red complex plastids.

academic.oup.com/mbe/article/...

Promethea = PROvora + MEteora + HEmimastigophora. The new supergroup, unifying previously “orphan” lineages with gene-rich mitogenomes. Position of #telonemids is still uncertain. #protistsonsky tinyurl.com/yk9xkt49

BEHOLD! One of Earth's greatest lineages of life: the lil wiggle arm guys, Meteora.

These single-celled critters, originally found in deep-sea sediments, are SO DIFFERENT from other lifeforms on Earth that they're likely in their own kingdom (as in, the Animal Kingdom, the Plant Kingdom etc). 🧪🌿

Divergent Plastid Genomes in the Deepest-Branching Apicomplexan Parasites #protists #protistsonsky academic.oup.com/gbe/article/...

Excited to share our new paper in @cellreports.bsky.social that reshapes our understanding of chromosome organization's deep evolutionary roots! Our work dives into the origins of the machinery that structures our very genomes.

🔗: doi.org/10.1016/j.ce...

#Genomics #Evolution #CellBiology #LECA

Join us on this interesting @ergabiodiv.bsky.social BioGenomes Analysis & Applications seminar. Today at 12h CEST!

Phylogenomic analyses indicate the archaeal superphylum DPANN originated from free-living euryarchaeal-like ancestors Nature Microbiology - Phylogenetic reconstructions with conserved protein markers from the 11 known DPANN phyla reveal their monophyletic placement within the Euryarchaeota.

📣 We are proud of the publication of the second paper of @bbaker24.bsky.social PhD thesis. In collaboration with friends in Halifax we have studied the difficult question of the phylogeny of the DPANN archaea, composed of several phyla of highly reduced, fast-evolving epiparasites 🧵

rdcu.be/erkkU

Happy to have contributed to this great article: #Protist genomics: key to understanding eukaryotic evolution. Congrats Alexandra Schoenle et al. #ProtistsOnSky
authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

Despite 150+ years of Radiolaria diversity research, we have just scratched the surface. Nearly half of Radiolaria diversity might be naked hiding in plain sight! We unveiled the diversity and evolution of Radiolaria beyond "the stars of the ocean"
doi.org/10.1016/j.cu...

🚨 2.5-year PhD or Postdoc Opportunity! Join me and the Aquatic Ecosystem Analysis group @UniKoblenz. 🔬 Microbial #ecology, #bioindicators, #protists, #wastewater 🌊 | German language skills are necessary,Apply by May 16 | 🔗 kennethdumack.de | tinyurl.com/dumack2
Please share! #MicroSky #ProtistsOnSky

figure from the paper showing various views of the discussed microbial cell

New #ISEPpapers! Hijacking and integration of algal #plastids and #mitochondria in a polar planktonic host: Ananya Kedige Rao et al. www.cell.com/current-biol...

#Microbes #Algae #Protists #Symbiosis #Organelles #Plankton

Happy to have played a small part in this. Prometheid is a proposed supergroup that contains previously deep orphan lineages.
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
#protistsonsky

First study from the lab is out! We describe ApuRs, a new family of microbial rhodopsins unique from apusomonads. ApuRs represent the first anion-conducting rhodopsin channels that can be controlled by UV light, offering potential as new optogenetic tools. #protistsonsky
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
👇

What's the size... habitat? Bacteriastrum, Massisteria, Artodiscus??

🧠🦠🚨 New preprint alert! We’ve built the first trait database for Amoebozoa, and showcase ecological insights and evolutionary patterns. If you're into protists, soil ecology, or functional biodiversity - this is for you! #ProtistsOnSky #MicroSky 🧵👇

@amoebadiscovery.bsky.social made an iteresting interview with me about #heliozoa and #centrohelids - I think these organisms are really important, understudied and gorgeous 😍 Also lots other intresting reading and beatiful pictures! #protistsonsky link: tinyurl.com/adiscovery1

Light microscopy images of Divimonas melba n. gen. n. comb. from multieukaryotic culture CuF1Ancy in 150-ppt media.

Cultivation of Ancyromonas melba, and Reclassification as the Type Species of Divimonas gen. nov., a Phylogenetically Important Ancyromonad Lineage
Kate M. Barkhouse, Yana Eglit, Elizabeth J. Weston, Adriana B. A. Jenkins, Alastair G. B. Simpson
onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
#protistsonsky

Postdoc available in Grenoble (France), funded by the ERC SymbiOCEAN, to work on the metabolic connectivity in planktonic photosymbiosis. 👉Passionate by symbiosis & marine protists? skills in bioinfo and molecular biology? Join us! Info: emploi.cnrs.fr/Offres/CDD/U...

#protistsonsky #SymbioSky

A robustly rooted tree of eukaryotes reveals their excavate ancestry - Nature The root of the eukaryote Tree of Life is estimated from a new, larger dataset of mitochondrial proteins including all known eukaryotic supergroups, showing it lies between two multi-supergroup assemb...

I'm pleased to introduce our new paper rooting the eukaryote Tree of Life (eToL) that resulted from a collaboration led by PhD student Kelsey Williamson and a large group of collaborators doi.org/10.1038/s415...htt

Just out - The first global ocean 3-Domain microbial survey where all organisms can be directly compared quantitatively. Unfractionated and amplified from just 2 primers (vetted with mock communities and metagenomics), so all with the same denominator. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Illustration depicting the ways in which fungi can exchange genetic material with each other. Starship mediated HGT is confirmed experimentally in this preprint.

We did it! We caught Starship #transposons moving between #fungal species in the lab, including between species separated by ~100my. We think Starships are a mediator of HGT in fungi, akin to conjugative elements in bacteria. Check out the preprint. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Use their names: there are no basal, lower, or early diverging fungi Fungal biologists have embraced phylogenies for understanding the biology of this diverse group in an evolutionary framework. In an attempt to highlight lineages of fungi that are distinct from the...

OK, from now on, I'll try to avoid using "early-branching" or "early-diverging" (on "lower" and "basal" I gave up long before) 🙂
Use their names: there are no basal, lower, or early diverging fungi www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10....

DEEP seeks Associate Professor in Plant Molecular Physiology – apply now! - Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences The Department of Ecology, Environment and Plant Sciences (DEEP) at Stockholm University is looking recruiting an Associate Professor in Plant Molecular Physiology, a tenured position.

Associate prof position at Stockholm U in plant molecular physiology, including phytoplankton

www.su.se/department-o...

graphical abstracty of the study

Symbiotic #bacteria ride along with single-celled #protists in ocean's upper layer phys.org/news/2025-02...

#Symbionts of predatory protists are widespread in the oceans and related to animal pathogens www.cell.com/cell-host-mi...

Seagrass Zostera marina in Baltic Sea showing blue carbon, photo credit Pekka Tuuri

The GEOMAR seagrass team is hiring. Time to make coastal restoration long-term sustainable. A fully funded 4-yr PhD position on eelgrass seascape genomics in the Baltic Sea, further details see here www.geomar.de/en/karriere/... @geomarkiel.bsky.social DM me for inquiries

Phylogenomics of coral-infecting corallicolids reveal multiple independent losses of chlorophyll biosynthesis in apicomplexan parasites Jacko-Reynolds et al. present multi-protein phylogenetics supporting corallicolids as a late-branching apicomplexan, closely related to coccidians. The expression of chlorophyll biosynthesis genes in ...

New corallicolid pub in @currentbiology.bsky.social!🪸🧬

Highlights:
🌳 Phylogenomic support for Corallicolids as sister to the Ichthyocolids
☀️Corallicolids express nuclear & plastid encoded Chl biosynthesis genes
❌Multiple, parallel losses of CBP in Apicomplexa
#ProtistsOnSky #CoralReefs #MicroSky

Paper came out today that represents a long trip for many members of my lab. It took years to get these methods to work and gather the data so everyone involved should be very proud of the interesting outcome. Thanks to the whole gang for their perseverance on this one!

Submit your abstract now! #MLD8 The 8th Molecular Life of Diatoms Conference in Ghent. 👇🦠 #diatom #algae #protists #ocean

www.vibconferences.be/events/molec...

YouTube video by Jeffrey Danese This Is Water David Foster Wallace Commencement Speech

Still a great speech about awareness and understanding how to think:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCbG...

congrats @dumack.bsky.social 🎉